


Of Librarians and Men

by lizardsonline



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: AU, Alcohol, Fluff, Librarian AU, M/M, rating for minor language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 13:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19442590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizardsonline/pseuds/lizardsonline
Summary: Bright lights glistened above masses of people all dressed in fine evening wear, chatting idly amongst themselves and drinking champagne. As the sun sank lower into the horizon, pink and red hues danced around the room, congealing together in a radiant display of beauty and nature. The evening was simply marvelous and…Kent was bored out of his mindOr a Librarian AU!





	Of Librarians and Men

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ThisAintBC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisAintBC/gifts).



> I was originally writing a super long slow burn fic but I knew I wouldn't be able to finish everything I wanted to do with it in time for this exchange. Maybe one day I'll finish what I was writing originally and publish it as a prequel to this fic.

Bright lights glistened above masses of people all dressed in fine evening wear, chatting idly amongst themselves and drinking champagne. As the sun sank lower into the horizon, pink and red hues danced around the room, congealing together in a radiant display of beauty and nature. The evening was simply marvelous and…

Kent was bored out of his mind. If he had to speak to one more billionaire about how much their donations meant to the library, he was going to rip his hair out. In his opinion, if these people really cared, they would donate more than a couple grand once a year but that’s none of his business. He’s here to thank the donors, and not get too drunk to be an embarrassment, but drunk enough that he doesn't die of boredom. These events were literally his least favorite part of the job. 

As one particularly pretentious donor walked away, Kent wiped his hand over his face and tried to not audibly groan. 

_Jesus Christ_ he thought to himself, _how much longer is this gonna take?_ He peeked at his watch, the blinking face reading _6:29_. Dinner wasn’t even going to be served for another hour or so, assuming the event ran on time, which it never did. He picked up his flute of champagne off the opulent little tables they had set up for the cocktail hour and walked over to a crowd containing a few familiar faces. Turning his head both ways to make sure no one was watching, he smashed his head into a smaller blond man’s shoulder. 

“Biiiiiiits, bro I’m dying. If I hear one more yacht story I’m gonna go feral.” Kent complained, his words slightly muffled by his friend’s suit.

The shorter blond shoved Kent’s face off his shoulder in faux irritation. “Speak for yourself, I’ll take any excuse to see Jack in an outfit that contains zero tweed or yellow tennis shoes.” 

“Good to see you Kent” Jack turned to face Kent, and smiled next to his husband. “And it’s not that bad Bits.”

“Oh honey, yes it is. The only thing stopping me from burning those god awful shoes is the fact that I abhor the smell of burning rubber.” Jack just shrugged and return to his previous conversation with a man Kent knew looked vaguely familiar. He thinks his name is Knight but couldn’t remember his first name for the life of him.

Bitty turned his attention back to his friend “Speaking of, where’s Diego? I figured you would be all over him in a suit.”

Kent pulled his phone out of his back pocket with his free hand.“Well I know he’s here somewhere, because he texted me from the bathroom about an hour ago to make fun of some donors he spoke to.” 

Bitty rolled his eyes. “Go find your man. You’ll be less cranky that way.” And with that Bitty shooed him away. 

Kent stowed his phone back into his pocket and set off across the hall to do just that. 

  
  


Unfortunately for Kent, finding Diego would be easier said than done. The entire hall was filled to the brim with rich socialites and librarians from all over Providence and Rhode Island proper. Kent just hoped Diego’s height would aid him in locating his boyfriend. 

Diego Torres was everything Kent thought he hated in a man. First and foremost, Diego had a monster of a beard; a great big bushy black beard, which normally, Kent abhorred. (This was absolutely _nothing_ to do with his own inability to grow a large beard) He was not a fan of beard burn, finding it all too similar to sunburn in look and feel, and personally Kent thought the whole “lumberjack bearded hipster look” was pretentious and outdated. Diego liked old movies, dogs and classical music. He didn’t like Britney Spears, or cats, or trashy rom-coms. Basically, in Kent’s mind, Diego had been pretentious and outdated. And rude. 

The pair’s first meeting was quite the antithesis of what one might call a “meet-cute”. Diego had spilled his coffee on Kent while he had been at a hangover brunch with Lardo and Bitty after an intense night out, and hadn’t apologized. If that hadn’t made Kent hate him enough, it was only a week later when, much to Kent’s chagrin, he learned that Diego was a librarian who was being transferred from Boston to head the new music and arts section that had just been built in the Providence location. Diego’s ostentatious personality repelled Kent, and Kent’s obnoxious IDGAF personality repelled Diego. The two men were probably the most unlikely pair out there and yet... 

Plenty of time, patience, actually learning about each other (whether willingly or not), and one eventful road trip to retrieve some newly donated documents for the library had brought the unlikely couple together in an act of love and heart which completely made up for their initial meeting. 

A buzz in his pocket made Kent halt his search. The screen alerted him of a message from Diego. 

_ur butt looks cute in that suit_ \- Diego <3 6:37 PM 

**where r u???? - Me 6:38**

_look across the room-_ Diego <3 6:38 

_i seeeee you -_ Diego <3 6:38 

Kent peered up from his phone, training his gaze to the opposite end of the room where he immediately saw and locked eyes with Diego, who motioned for Kent to come towards him. 

He then found himself speed walking at a pace that was brisk enough to be only a little bit inappropriate to come face to face (or, well, face to beard) with his emerald-eyed love. 

“Babe where’ve you been, I’ve been dying without you.” Kent whined as he took Diego’s right hand into his own and squeezing it lightly. 

“Aww look at you, little codependent aren’t we?” Diego teased back. He leaned down, placing a kiss on his boyfriend’s temple. 

“Oh screw off I meant “of boredom” you dick”

He chuckled, “I know I know I’m just being a dick. Honestly I’m bored as hell too. How much longer until it’s socially acceptable for us to dip?” 

“After dinner maybe?” Kent offered. 

“Okay when’s that gonna be?” 

“Seven thirtyish? So long as everything is running on time which it most likely isn’t, and I’m super hungry sooooo….” Kent trailed off hoping Diego would pick up on what he was putting down.

Diego’s eyes lit up with an idea. He crouched down to where his face was parallel with Kent’s right ear and whispered, “New idea: leave in five, slip out quietly, get Chinese takeout on the way home, and then if it just so happens that one of the bottles of champagne from the bar comes back with us, then who would notice? 

_God I love my boyfriend_ Kent thought to himself. “Deal. I’ll get the champagne, you get the car because I’ve had far too much at this point to drive, and we order on the way?” 

“Meet you back at the car in 15?” 

Kent leaned up on his tip toes and kissed just above his boyfriend’s beard line. “See you then.” And he walked away feeling lighter than he had all evening. 

Getting the champagne was surprisingly easier than Kent thought it was going to be. He simply walked up to one of the caterers and asked. “Hey man can I get one whole bottle of this stuff?” referring to the flute in his right hand. 

The waiter simple shrugged “Sure why not?” and walked into the kitchen, returning momentarily with the aforementioned bottle of bubbly. 

“Thanks man, I appreciate it.” Kent slipped a ten dollar bill into the waiter’s hand and walked away. 

When he was out the front door, he caught sight of his car pulling into the pickup area, Diego in the front seat, his suit jacket already abandoned Kent assumed to wrinkle in the backseat, at least until he reminded Diego it was there a week later. 

Kent held up the bottle as Diego rolled down the passenger side window. “I get to choose the music this time.” 

“Already ahead of you babe.” Diego picked up his phone, pressed play and instantly the opening bars to Circus by Britney Spears flooded the speakers. Kent couldn’t help but smile. 

The two cruised down the road, a warm breeze suggesting that the late September night was not quite ready to let go of the last dregs of summer. Once they had acquired copious amounts of Chinese takeout, the pair headed back to _their_ apartment. 

Kent held the food while Diego unlocked the front door and flicked on the lights as he crossed the threshold. The living room was a light yellow, with several moving boxes still strewn across the floor from Kent’s recent move. Kit was perched atop one particular box labeled “Winter” with haphazard handwriting. She meowed in acknowledgment of the two men entering what she had quickly claimed as her domain. 

The pair move about each other methodically, taking off their fancy clothes and redressing in more comfortable pajamas. They brought utensils and cups to the living room and sat down on the couch to queue up Netflix. The night was now almost perfect. 

“Wait!” Kent stood up from the couch and ran back to the kitchen. 

“What?” Diego questioned

Kent returned from the kitchen a moment later with champagne in hand. “Almost forgot. And after all the trouble I went to get this.” He popped the cork and poured them both a generous amount. They were all set for their night in but as Diego went to press play Kent’s phone buzzed incessantly. He looked at the screen and laughed. “It’s Bittle. I may have forgot to mention we left.”

_where r u? they’re serving dinner now-_ Butter Boy 7:52 

_seriously where tf are you? and is diego w/ u? Lardo couldn’t find him either_ \- Butter Boy 7:52

_where in the lord’s fresh hell have you and Diego gone????!!!_ \- Butter Boy 7:53 

**sorry bitts we dipped like an hour ago rip lol forgot to tell u - Me 7:53**

Kent snapped a selfie of him and Diego on the couch in their pajamas, making sure to fit the wide array of takeout into the frame.

**[img]- Me 7:54**

**jealous? - Me 7:54**

_……………[Eye Roll Emoji]_ \- Butter Boy 7:55

Stowing his phone back into his pocket, Kent looked towards his boyfriend “Let’s eat!”. The two chowed down and drank the champagne until there was hardly any left, and made a decent dent in Season two of Schitt’s Creek. It was now, the perfect night. As Kent stuffed his face with fried rice, he looked at his boyfriend stuffing his own face with lo mein and he felt his heart skip a beat. Iit had taken them plenty of time to get where they were. He wouldn’t change it for the world. 

It wasn't long before the two slowly fell asleep on each other while still on the couch, Netflix still playing in the background. They both snored over each other, dreaming of everything and anything, neither aware that both of them had hidden rings in their respective sock drawers. But that was a thought for another time. 

  


**Author's Note:**

> special thanks to @satansspookybutthole and @ravenreyamidala for beta reading this bad boy!Of Librarians


End file.
